Ray Charles Essay
Ray Charles overcame so much in order to become one of the best singers of all time. Over the course of his life, he worked to be successful despite blindness, racism, and deaths in his family. It all started when he was born on September 23, 1930, in Albany, Georgia. Charles’s family lacked money, but they still remained happy (Rits 13). Ray played loved instruments and mechanics from a young age, and he kept on getting better and better until he became famous (Rits 14-15). Ray had so many hit songs and had a lot of fans even though the odds were against him to even be successful. While overcoming many obstacles such as blindness and racism, Ray Charles somehow became a top musician in the World and changed music forever. There were many challenges in Charles’s life, and they took a toll on him. His first big challenge was the
…show more content…
As of 1994, Charles won 10 Grammy awards, and one of them was the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award which he won in 1988. It didn't even take a long time for him to have success. He got jobs right when he came to Jacksonville to start his career in music Rits (49,103). He also traveled around the world with bands and on his own, and had many hit songs. Black and white people loved his music, and he was a star all over the world. Charles’s remake of the song “Georgia on my mind” got to the top of almost every popularity chart in America. It later became the state song of Georgia (Rits 86). For two years in the early sixties, Charles was the most popular singer in America. He was even very close with Martin Luther King Jr., and he showed his support to him as well (Rits 99). Charles did almost everything a musician could possibly do. He was able to sing almost any style, and play music with anybody, anywhere. Not many musicians ever did as much as him. Ray Charles accomplished so much in his life, and his music was loved by many despite the hardships he